Help with very important choice - 11/15/17
I am turning 54 this year and although I still can get around well, I have serious enough issues with both hips and both shoulders that I will in the very near future have to have surgery on all to continue enjoying a high quality of life. There is no way I can get all these surgeries done before I can go elk hunting.
My situation is this. I have built up 19 points for a limited entry bull elk hunt in Utah. I have done multiple tests of me carrying a pack with 20-60lbs in it and bottom line is my left hip can not take it after about 1000 yards and starts to ache to the point I can only cover 50-75 more yards before I must sit and relieve the pressure on it. And once it becomes irritated, it gets progressive worse the more I walk with a pack. Tried cortisone injections and per my MD I'm at the end of non surgical solutions. On the plus side I can walk as much as needed with no pack.
Although I am no elk hunting expert I have gone on 4 100% DIY bull elk hunts (all LE units) and killed a bull every time, the biggest a beautiful 330" 6x6 so I know enough not to be considered a total novice.
I will also be totally on my own on this hunt so that complicates things even more. So I considered all the options and accepted the reality of my situation of my physical limitations, the fact the LE elk units in Utah are HUGE being 10s of thousands if not 100's of thousands of acres of very rugged topography in size and the fact this is my one and only time I will EVER be able to elk hunt in Utah I had to accept the fact I should strongly consider going guided.
So obviously I need to find as good an elk guiding outfit as I can afford and are feel recommendations based on personal first hand experiences from an outfitters past clients are as good a source of information as it gets. I know I must still do my homework but first hand recommendations would be invaluable to my search.
So I need two things from anyone reading this who wished to help me.
#1-Recommendations of outfitters you have personal 1st hand experience that you hired and hunted with
#2-What questions should I ask any outfitter I am considering hiring.
My budget is strictly dependent on the expertise of the outfitter, as I will have no problems being in excellent shape and as this will be a firearm hunt, I will be without doubt more than proficient with my firearm to any reasonable distance at or below 600 yards. I have no intentions what so ever of trying to find the best/cheapest deal out there, I am looking for the best outfitter I can afford and I know excellence doesn't come at garage sale prices. But I also have to be realistic in what I can afford.
This is a huge deal to me so I need as much solid and as resent outfitter information as passible help as I can get. I know all about which units to apply for but will also discuss this choice with my outfitter when that time comes. I would like to go in 2018 and absolutely no later than 2019.
Thanks,
DTJager/Art.
My situation is this. I have built up 19 points for a limited entry bull elk hunt in Utah. I have done multiple tests of me carrying a pack with 20-60lbs in it and bottom line is my left hip can not take it after about 1000 yards and starts to ache to the point I can only cover 50-75 more yards before I must sit and relieve the pressure on it. And once it becomes irritated, it gets progressive worse the more I walk with a pack. Tried cortisone injections and per my MD I'm at the end of non surgical solutions. On the plus side I can walk as much as needed with no pack.
Although I am no elk hunting expert I have gone on 4 100% DIY bull elk hunts (all LE units) and killed a bull every time, the biggest a beautiful 330" 6x6 so I know enough not to be considered a total novice.
I will also be totally on my own on this hunt so that complicates things even more. So I considered all the options and accepted the reality of my situation of my physical limitations, the fact the LE elk units in Utah are HUGE being 10s of thousands if not 100's of thousands of acres of very rugged topography in size and the fact this is my one and only time I will EVER be able to elk hunt in Utah I had to accept the fact I should strongly consider going guided.
So obviously I need to find as good an elk guiding outfit as I can afford and are feel recommendations based on personal first hand experiences from an outfitters past clients are as good a source of information as it gets. I know I must still do my homework but first hand recommendations would be invaluable to my search.
So I need two things from anyone reading this who wished to help me.
#1-Recommendations of outfitters you have personal 1st hand experience that you hired and hunted with
#2-What questions should I ask any outfitter I am considering hiring.
My budget is strictly dependent on the expertise of the outfitter, as I will have no problems being in excellent shape and as this will be a firearm hunt, I will be without doubt more than proficient with my firearm to any reasonable distance at or below 600 yards. I have no intentions what so ever of trying to find the best/cheapest deal out there, I am looking for the best outfitter I can afford and I know excellence doesn't come at garage sale prices. But I also have to be realistic in what I can afford.
This is a huge deal to me so I need as much solid and as resent outfitter information as passible help as I can get. I know all about which units to apply for but will also discuss this choice with my outfitter when that time comes. I would like to go in 2018 and absolutely no later than 2019.
Thanks,
DTJager/Art.